a large study led by the University of Oxford found that a steroid called dexamethasone cut deaths by up to 35% in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who needed treatment with breathing machines and by 20% in those only needing extra oxygen.
It did not help less sick patients and might even have even been harmful at that stage of illness.The results changed care immediately and prompted many other studies that were testing steroids to stop, so more people could be given the drug.